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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Yo, sup? (I don't know why I just said that , I never say that!) Really though, there is a lot up. Always is isn't there. And today was no exception.

Ever had a stupidly rough day? Not bad rough, just stupid. The kind of day that starts with your kids getting up an hour earlier than normal. Hmm, not so bad you think, I can make coffee right. OK, so I planned to make coffee, that took a few hours but hey, it's not bad just slow so far. A bath would be great and then we will be back on track. So I ran a bath. Hmmm, cold. I am guessing the element in the water heater blew again, this happened last week so I am guessing that is what it is. Still a bath would be nice. So I boiled water and added it to the cold bath and had a very short luke warm bath. Not so awesome.

But hey, the sun is shining and my kids are running around nearly naked so I have less laundry to do cheerful and awesome. The day is looking up!

We are raising super heros you know!
They will wear the full armor of God and be prepared to ward off the whiles of the devil when we are done with them. Or so I pray. That is my job right? To prepare these little people for the big adult world. That is what I signed up for without even thinking about it 5 years ago. I am growing and nurturing future citizens here. Educating and leading. Not babysitting and entertaining as some might think. It is a big job and one that I feel like I fail at on so many levels.

Today I feel like the day kicked my butt. I set a few goals. Got half of one done, yip!
We were going to do school in a timely fashion. But we unschooled today. De-schooled.....didn't school, whatever. We started to do a project on building robots and were going to learn about setting goals and planing and following through and then seeing the final product while at the same time honing some skill with cutting and folding and gluing and taping and coloring and counting and writing. Anyway that all got derailed when halfway through the project Hudson spilled his juice box all over the table and we had to set everything out on a towel in the sun to dry for a few hours. We never got back to it. Tomorrow.

Some days we don't get to school until late.
And it is for the better, we are out on adventures and then at the end of the day with all the energy worn off we sit down and calmly get it done. Not today. Not tonight though.

Today was a run for my sanity. Well one little monkey gave me a run for it. The first two kids have been pretty content and happy to be pretty obedient kids. They fight and do normal kid stuff once in a while but they have always listened after being disciplined .... or maybe I am blocking it out but I sure don't remember getting the go around that I am getting with Huds. He is the biggest charmer and flirt and also the mischief maker.

Then again I never had a 1 1/2 year old with a half finished home and very tempting holes in the floors and walls. I have no idea how we will get all the toys out of the heat vent without taking all the pipes apart.

And the walls.
Oh the poor beautiful walls.

Seriously. You are busted. Again. Every stinking day.

Yes, I know why the Lord made you cute.

It is a very redeeming quality but it doesn't change the trouble in his wake.

I am so glad that Ronin has yet to be any trouble but the guy is on the move.
In no time flat now he goes from laying on his stomach to sitting up.

And is for the most part a happy camper, which I need since apparently I cannot turn my back for a moment or something happens. And if you are wondering about all the nearly naked pictures it is because it is so very hot in our house. Although it is frigid outside our furnace doesn't kick in all day with all the south window exposure. This guy was sweating up a storm.

Anyway, as I was saying something always happens the moment I am not looking. Toys and shoes and clothes and books thrown in the bath. Or maybe like tonight, a box of crackers and a box of cereal dumped in two seconds flat.

And I do think I should have been more in tune with what was happening behind my back but with Dave working late tonight I decided to let the kids watch a movie so I could get this painting done and shipped already. We would all be in the same room so I could watch them out the corner of my eye as I worked. However with no cupboard doors yet apparently the loot on the shelves is a little tempting.

And with me taking way longer to get orders out lately than it should (or maybe not) I was trying to get something done and wasn't looking for a just a few minutes. Two minutes!
After today I think that I really have to give up doing custom work for a while. I am behind and I have 10+ orders to get out in the next few weeks. I realize that this gives me some stress and I hate stress. I like that mellow non stress feeling all the time and when I am crunched with work I feel that icky tight stress ball creeping back. I rather like watching the kids pretend that the paint tubes are people and they play house as I do real house stuff. Then again this is just begging for an accident too isn't it.

Thing is that I love to do the work once I get started, I really love it and that is why I keep doing it. But isn't it true that sometimes you have to give up doing something you love to keep things going smoothly every where else. Something always has to give and it can't be the kids or the house or the meals. Of course now that they are in bed I can do some work and it is ok. I just CANNOT try to sneak moments of work in during the day again.

And did you know that trying to vacuum crackers and cereal from a shag carpet is a huge pain. Of course I was not too pleased and was vacuuming rather vigorously trying to get it all out and ran over the corner of a blanket. It jammed the machine and when I pulled it out of the powerhead I lost power. No spin action. Grr. I fiddled and turned it on and off and unplugged it and tried again. Dead. What should I have expected?! It is my lucky day right.

I was glad that Dave had left his shop vac in the play room and brought it to the rescue.

Only problem was that I had to use the nozzle. 35 mins later it was clean. That felt good.
Something got done today!
OK, so more than just that got done today but for some reason I just felt like I was 10 steps behind where I needed to be. I did figure out that there was a reset on the Dyson though after the fact. At least my vacuum isn't really fried after all!

Time to brew a cuppa tea already! Hello that can't go wrong can it?!

Oh ya. Guess who just brewed a cup of black tea instead of green without thinking and is now totally wired!

Yup. Seriously.
I might as well paint now!
But it is that weird kind of wired, when you can feel it in the pit of your stomach and you are kinda jittery. And I really need to dance around and power clean my house sleep. Weee........

So anyway since my mind is spinning, wanna know something?
Well maybe some of you know this already since you might have formal art training but I don't have any so I will share it with those of you who don't know.
When I was a little kid we once visited this elderly woman in a town close to here and she took me into her basement to show me her art. She had (from what I can remember) some really stunning portraits and then she showed me how she painted them. Upside down.

I have flipped paintings upside down ever since that one incident when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old.

You see when you flip it you no longer see it as the same piece. Instead you see lines and shapes and color and math. You can see all the areas you were struggling with and know exactly how to fix them. (I have a lot of work to do on this one and I HAVE to get it shipped!) It gives you a whole new perspective. I still paint all my pieces right side up and only flip them to check them or make corrections but some people paint everything upside down. Cool huh!

Alright I have to get off here. I have to get to sleep. Here's hoping that there is hot water in the morning and I can make the coffee before noon. I will be set! Cheers!

p.s. All the big square photos are off my phone so that is why they are kinda crummy.

11 comments:

I feel for you! But I had to laugh at your fun narration of your upside down day. We're up an hour early here today and I will make that pot of coffee too, sometime. And have that cup of coffee microwaved a few times and rediscovered tonight after cleaning up my kitchen I'm sure.

Loved this post and I soooo hear you. The stress ball thing when trying to fit in work (amen), swearing not to try to do work during the day again (amen and I fail every time I have a pressing deadline), unschooling more often than you want, getting half a thing done, oh I feel your pain! Here's to a better day, cause there's always a better one on the horizon, and yay for a caffeine-fueled post to cheer me up :). I used my accidental caffeine the other night (yerba-mate tea, wow!) and spent it mucking around rather than getting anything on my list done. Hugs to you.

Oh Anna, I so hear ya. Hudson would get along great with my kids. Did I tell you that Caroline drew with a sharpie all over the outside of my mom's BMW last spring when we were living with them? And then on their walls with pencils. When we were little we stuck all our toys down the heat vents. My parents usually made us go "fishing" for them. Magnets attached to string for the metal toys and tape for the non-metal. It doesn't always work, but maybe worth a try? I don't know how you do it girl. And you are right on with teaching those kids about putting on the whole armour of God. Daunting task, isn't it? Especially when I forget to put on my own armour many mornings : ( Happy new day!

Oh dear. I remember those days so well. And, even though my kids are 9, 13 and 14, I occasionally still have a day a bit like that. I ran like crazy today; my husband and I had to share one car, I was behind the 8 ball all day, and when I finally got home with the two oldest, my neighbor called me, and I realized I had completely forgotten to pick up my youngest from school. Doh!! Thank goodness for friends and neighbors!! My lovely buddy brought her home for me. :) I agree that you are a superhero. I love that you kept your equanimity throughout it all. I had days like that bring me to tears from time to time.

PS: There is a book you seem unaware of: "Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain" that gets us left-brain dominanters the opportunity to experience drawing! You might find it interesting because it encourages us left-brain dominanters to turn the pictures upside down! Sound familiar?

I read somewhere that green tea has more caffeine in it than black tea - that is unless it is decaffeinated....something worth researching I guess! The upside is that you looked GREAT in those pictures! And you already know that I agree with the moms who are telling you that this too will pass and you will miss it - good thing you blogged about it!